Your Say

07/06/2005
EU deal’s dead – let’s bury it
South Wales Evening Post

THE future of the European Union constitution is in serious doubt after it was rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands last week. Tonight Welsh Conservative MEP JONATHAN EVANS explains the background to the treaty and why he thinks it should be buried.

The seeds of the EU crisis were sown over four years ago when European leaders met in Nice to sort out the practical arrangements for bringing in 10 new member states — most of them newly liberated from Soviet influence following the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The treaty that was agreed was later rubber-stamped by every European government save one — Ireland, where the law demanded that a referendum be held. On June 1, 2001, the Irish rejected the plan by a margin of eight per cent.

The only people allowed a say on the future direction of Europe had given a massive thumbs down, but Europe’s leaders were determined the result should be “corrected”. The Irish were told to vote again under threat of expulsion if they got it wrong but, as a face-saver, European prime ministers including Tony Blair agreed the EU needed to “reconnect with the people”.

In December 2001, the leaders agreed to create a Convention on the Future of Europe. The convention would bring together MPs from national parliaments, MEPs, governments and others to come up with solutions to this problem. It didn’t work out like that. Most of those appointed to the convention had one thing in common — their burning commitment to closer and closer European integration. The convention was too good an opportunity to be missed in driving “the European project” forward.

It soon became clear the convention was determined to create a United States of Europe, one politician enthusiastically describing the emerging constitution as “the capstone of a federal state”. The elements of such a state were there in the constitution — an EU foreign minister, an elected EU president, a charter of fundamental rights at the EU level enforceable against individual member states, and over 30 new areas where EU rather than national law would be paramount .

UK ministers played down the significance of all this, with Peter Hain famously describing the constitution as nothing more than “a tidying-up exercise”. Former EU Commission president Romano Prodi declared that no one country should be allowed to derail the plan. In a clear swipe at Britain, he insisted that if we voted “no”, we might be invited to leave the EU altogether.

After their difficulties with the Irish, the European political elite decided that referendums should be discouraged. But a referendum seemed the only way to ensure British voters had a say in their constitutional future. Mr Blair dismissed all this referendum talk for more than a year until he performed a spectacular U-turn last spring — just a month before the European elections — and conceded that we would have a vote.

EU leaders were furious. A referendum would take the decision out of the hands of the political elite and the consequences were unpredictable. The commission president’s spokesman told me personally that a “no” vote would mean expulsion for Britain.

Amazingly, it was two of the most Europhile countries, France and Holland, which crippled the constitution. It’s tough for the EU political elite to accept. In an astonishing interview on BBC television with Jeremy Paxman, commission president Jose Manuel Barroso suggested that more than half of Europe’s population had approved the constitution—because their governments had refused to hold a referendums. As many have observed, the disciples of European integration don’t seem to understand the word “no”. What may be more disturbing is that, as in the past, they won’t take no for an answer. The EU needs to re-examine what the EU is for. All in Britain support the advantages of being part of the EU single market, and thousands of jobs in Wales depend on our remaining active and committed participants.

Environmental pollution does not respect national boundaries and that is another area where we must work closely with our European neighbours. But do we need Welsh working hours decided by the votes of MPs from Latvia and Portugal, or by our own elected politicians in Cardiff Bay and Westminster?

Neil Kinnock was right when he described the constitution as dead, and I am worried that the blind and arrogant refusal of Eurocrats to accept this may bring an even bigger downfall upon them.Opinion polls in Denmark and Luxembourg have shifted negatively and decisively in recent days as elitist EU politicians demand continued efforts to ratify a dead treaty.

The discredited President Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder are to get together to plot the future of Europe. But neither has any place in Europe’s political future. Chirac is the most hated political figure in France and Schroeder’s recent disastrous election results have forced an early election in Germany in which he is sure to be defeated.

This smacks of a bunker mentality. It is time for Mr Blair to join Mr Kinnock in burying the EU constitution and starting a proper debate on Europe which may lead to the reconnection between government and governed we were promised four years ago.

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